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Do note, I haven't played the other IronRealms MUDs that they have...but Achaea is probably the most popular, anyway.

So, supposedly the game gets heavy on having to pay real money to advance. I haven't got to that point yet, so I'm not sure how true that is. But their cash shop is stupidely expensive, so I doubt I'll be buying anything from there...it makes the cash shop from Allods Online look like they are giving items away for free. However, I'm not sure if one is 100% required to pay for the stupidely expensive shop, or if people can earn through in-game what they can from the shop.

Having said that...this is probably one of my favorite MUDs I've tried. I tried a lot, but none have really hooked me in like Achaea has. The world is fairly large, community from what I've seen is friendly and helpful. The city and house I joined are great (I'm a Sentinel and joined the city Eleusis), and I've met quite a lot of roleplayers while I've been exploring in the city. This is probably my favorite aspect of Achaea, is how friendly everyone is. But really, most MUDs generally have a nice community.

Now another aspect I like is you can walk to various landmarks...now for someone that enters an inn in an MMO and gets lost inside the inn...this is a great feature. As generally (in MUDs) I take 5 steps in some direction and then start going in circles and can never find how to get back. Kind of sad I know. :P Probably sadder I get lost inside inns. :P Though I haven't seen any in-game map like some MUDs have, but their are maps online that are good enough. You can also use a teleport portal system from level 1-20, but I personally don't use it...I don't want to get to level 21 and go "okay I have no idea where anything is"...better to me, to explore without using the portals.

Later you can also buy and customize your own house...I don't know much about this feature though, or if it is a cash shop thing or not...someone can go into more detail in that. But having a house is always awesome, I enjoy housing in various games and MMOs.

The only thing that seems a con so far, is it seems kind of grindy. But there are various tasks to do, like catching butterflies or giving corpses to the imp king or pixie queen...but combat is fun, some MUDs have an automated combat system...but Achaea you input different moves in for your character to do. I like that better.

Really, I think it is the community that I like a lot...plus for a MUD, it is a fairly large game (player wise)...since a lot of MUDs aren't as active. But even if it is large, most people I've met are great. But my biggest worry really is if one needs to use the crazy expensive cash shop to get ahead...especially since Achaea is PvP focused.

Really, there are a lot cheaper MUDs out there (some which are totally free)...that probably have more features than Achaea or a better world. But I like Achaea's dynamic aspect to the game. Many MUDs feel quite static to me. But even players in Achaea can change the game, story wise at least. I like that.

Other MUDs I like or tried are Discworld (best MUD in terms of world design) and Medievia and Materia Magicka have tons of features and an ascii based map. Discworld is totally free, and probably offers a better exploration than Achaea...but it is very grindy, a lot more so than Achaea. It doesn't seem to be very dynamic either, like Achaea is. Though the whole Discworld MUD is custom made, along with all the descriptions of each room. And as for the other two, I personally never could get into Medievia or Magicka, I don't know...lots of features, but the world didn't bring me in at all. However, I forgot which one...think it was Materia Magicka, does have a custom weather system that has different effects. That is a neat feature.

My youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheExplorium

MMORPG.com is like 4chan, but for gamers.

WoW already does WoW good.

PvPers that gank newbies, are carebears. They don't want a challenge (like a carebear), they just want easy mode (like a carebear) and a no challenge combat (like a carebear).

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They have various deals. 5 dollars for 10 credits (cheapest, but useless, since 10 credits is barely any at all), or 25 dollars a month or their most expensive in premium packaging is almost 600 dollars.

People say Achaea is pay to win, and it could be later on...as I said, I haven't got that far yet. But their cash shop is lol worthy. At least the game is good...but their cash shop is stupid.

My youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheExplorium

MMORPG.com is like 4chan, but for gamers.

WoW already does WoW good.

PvPers that gank newbies, are carebears. They don't want a challenge (like a carebear), they just want easy mode (like a carebear) and a no challenge combat (like a carebear).

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Hey, it's you again.

The game itself is okay. I just have mixed feelings about the whole microtransaction deal.

IRE isn't a group of volunteers and hobbyists. They have decided to pay their employees, just like Simutronics, but much smaller. They treat maintaining the MUD like a job - most staff don't because it's a hobby for them - so it's not unreasonable for them to find some way to make money. I'm more than happy to support people who have made it their job to keep MUDs alive. That's really cool and I can get behind that.

My problem? It's too expensive to play if you want to be viable in any type of pvp. Want to have scripts that aren't bad and are supported by their maker? You have to go and buy a combat system for $20 or more. If you don't buy a script, you might notice that the other players you fight are REALLY, REALLY good at cleansing, using items, attack really quick, etc.. because they are using a combat system. I think that to preserve balance, scripts shouldn't be allowed to play the game for you. Plus, who would want to let the game client do everything for you? In real MMOs, developers would call this botting and you'd get banned!

Most MUDs do donations, but IRE (as well as games like New Worlds and Threshold) have turned to mt.

$9.99 for 15 Credits (66 cents per Credit)

$19.99 for 40 Credits (50 cents per Credit)

$39.99 for 100 Credits (40 cents per Credit)

$69.99 for 200 Credits (35 cents per Credit)

$104.99 for 300 Credits (35 cents per Credit)

$134.99 for 400 Credits (33.8 cents per Credit)

$168.99 for 500 Credits (33.8 cents per Credit)

$197.99 for 600 Credits (33 cents per Credit)

$230.99 for 700 Credits (33 cents per Credit)

$254.99 for 800 Credits (31.9 cents per Credit)

$279.99 for 900 Credits (31.1 cents per Credit)

$299.99 for 1000 Credits (30 cents per Credit)

$441.99 for 1500 Credits (29.5 cents per Credit)

$579.99 for 2000 Credits (29 cents per Credit)

What is it, 15 lessons per credit or something? Or like 5? I don't remember. Either way, this is the grind: lessons you gain from leveling up.

Normally, this kind of thing would be OK in your average F2P MMO. But the deal is, in the world of MUDs, there are so many of them that are completely free, are still feature complete, and get actively supported by volunteers and hobbyists.

It's not like OMG IRE IS THE DEVIL, but at the same time, if I wanted a game that I needed to grind endlessly on, I'd be on Aardwolf. If I wanted a game where roleplay mattered, I would be on an RPI mud like Armageddon, or go to a MUSH. Typically, I wouldn't be looking for a hack and slash + roleplay mud, but there's Forgotten / Shattered Kingdoms for that too.

Mixed feelings. I don't recommend this game to anyone unless you really like MUDs.

edit: Oh yeah, and what is with microtransaction MUDs having huge bulk packages / perks of $500+? New Worlds goes up to like $1000, and Threshold, I don't really know, but I think it's $1000 too. I've never seen a MMO do this before, unless it's a lifetime sub around $200.

Do people actually give them that much? Maybe the Achaeabots on this forum can tell us. lol

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Yeah, a 1000 dollars is a lot of money. Achaea isn't that much, but their cash shop and pay to win kind of ruins the game. I don't know any people that would throw that kind of money at a game...maybe there are, I don't know.

I ended up playing Discworld MUD, the world pulls me in a lot more than Achaea and I find it fun. But I guess that is for another topic.

My youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheExplorium

MMORPG.com is like 4chan, but for gamers.

WoW already does WoW good.

PvPers that gank newbies, are carebears. They don't want a challenge (like a carebear), they just want easy mode (like a carebear) and a no challenge combat (like a carebear).

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Personally I like Achaea and I've been playing it for about 10+ years (if you can't tell from my other posts). I started playing at an early age so I guess MUDs kind of spoiled the MMO experience for me. I've tried other MUDs, there was one I really liked before I started playing Achaea but they wanted $10 a month to play and I was just a kid at the time so I had to keep creating free trial characters.

I've spent about $600 or more on about 3 characters over the years and I'm decent at PvP. There are people who spend thousands of dollars in the cash shop and can steamroll you in like 15 seconds but lately the game has been gearing itself more towards team-based PvP where having cash shop items helps your team but not dramatically because both sides will have players with cash shop items.

I would say that getting into one-versus-one PvP and duelling people is very hard for a new person, but getting into team-based PvP like city versus city raids is pretty easy. And they've been doing a lot of promotions lately that give away free credits.

Combat systems are a little bit of a problem right now because they're becoming so dang smart. Back in the day a combat system was just a basic set of triggers that helped you cure a little bit better but there are public combat systems that block illusions from specific people, get your pipes out of your pack if you're forced to put them away, etc. I think we always knew that more and more advanced systems were going to be a problem as more advanced clients like Mudlet are released. But I also think the producers are starting to notice. There was a big thread on the Achaea forums about it.

I don't know who any of you play (or played) in Achaea but I hope you try a character in Shallam! Tis fun lately.

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I'm a very big fan of Achaea, have been playing now for about 5 years across one character or another. I've never been really PVP heavy but I'm pasable, managed to get to dragon in fact on my current character. In total, I've spent about $30 US on Achaea, I've bashed up enough credits to buy 2 curing systems in game, and some small time artefacts. IRE run plenty of promotions in game, so that if you don't have the moolah to dump into the MUD you can earn your high end shinies in other ways.

Sure it takes a bit longer, and I'd love to have the means to support my habit, but don't look at the prices per credit and run screaming.

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Buying credits isn't necessary to succeed in Achaea at all. In my five years or so playing the game and now being an established player and PvPer there, I've only spent a minimal amount of money. As Lianca mentioned above, there are many ways to earn credits in game, or even through the writing and art contests hosted monthly by the game if you're into that sort of thing. I've personally earned most of mine through drawing.

Furthermore, combat isn't the only thing you can do. A lot of my friends and many established, famous players focus on politics or other general roleplay, which doesn't require any money or grinding at all. I'd recommend giving the game a try despite the seemingly high credit prices -- they're pricey, maybe, but not a big deal. Look into the game for the game itself!

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If someone goes into the game and decides to spend $5000 on it, that's their decision. Fact is, there is no "winning" Achaea, or any sort of MMO. There is only the series of small victories that lead to the fact that you have too much money and free time. I play for the interaction with others, to flex my writing muscles and to stir up IC trouble whenever I can. You don't have to spend anything to do that.

If being a top combatant is your goal and you don't want to spend money, make some gold and buy your artefacts. It takes a good, long while, but isn't that more rewarding? If you have the cash to buy artefacts, and it's really that important to you, go ahead. No one's forcing your hand here.

If you play to win, you'll always lose in the end. Play for the fun of it and enjoy yourself, for crying out loud.

"For he who can be, and therefore is, another's and he who participates in reason enough to apprehend, but not to have, is a slave by nature."-Aristotle